They measured telomere length in 4,117 women in the Nurses’ Health Study. Compared to women who got the most sleep, those who slept 6 hours or less per night had a 12% decrease in their telomere length.

That change was equivalent to 9 years of cellular aging.1

And it’s not just how many hours you sleep. Another study showed that women between 49 and 66 years old who had poor sleep quality had shorter telomere lengths.2

How exactly does sleep affect your telomeres? It has to do with the hormone melatonin. It helps control your sleep and waking cycle. The more melatonin you have the better you sleep.

And the more you sleep the longer your telomeres.3 That means more youthful cells and a younger looking appearance.

How To Get Better “Beauty Rest”

Getting 7 to 9 hours of solid sleep every night should be the foundation of your anti-aging beauty regimen. And to get enough good quality sleep, it’s important to boost your melatonin levels.

But melatonin production drops with age. Levels can also drop when you’re stressed or take beta blockers, aspirin, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

There are some simple things you can do to counteract these influences and keep your melatonin levels up.

1. Spend time outdoors each day in natural sunlight. This triggers melatonin to help you fall asleep and sleep even more deeply at the proper time each night.

2. Eat melatonin-rich foods. Tropical fruits help boost melatonin. Pineapples have been shown to increase blood levels by 266%. Bananas boost it by 180% and oranges by 47%. 4

Also, tart cherries contain up to 13.5 nanograms (ng) of melatonin per gram. That’s more than the level usually found in the bloodstream.5 Drinking tart cherry juice from Montmorency cherries (Prunus cerasus) for just seven days has been found to increase sleep by an average of 34 minutes a night. It also sped up falling to sleep and increased sleep efficiency by 5-6%.6

Other foods that naturally increase melatonin include ginger, tomatoes, mangosteen and barley.

3. Keep your room dark. Any light at all, no matter how little, can disrupt the production of melatonin. Make sure you don’t leave the TV on in your bedroom. And get rid of the night light. If you can’t get your room completely dark, wear a sleep mask.

4. Get the right dose of melatonin. Many doctors and health experts recommend about 3 mg a day for treatment and around 500 micrograms for prevention. But to help lengthen your telomeres, you need a much larger dose.

At my Wellness center, we now recommend patients take 10 mg of melatonin daily to kick-start telomere protection. Even though it’s a much larger dosage than you’ll hear most doctors recommend (because they have no idea of its effect on your telomeres), it’s completely safe.

I suggest you look for a spray, drops, or a sublingual that melts under your tongue. It’s easier to absorb and works fast. Take it 20 minutes before you want to fall asleep.